MY GUIDE TO BREASTFEEDING AFTER RETURNING TO WORK:

Well all you need for brestfeeding is the baby and your breast, but when returning to work, there are products will make it easier. The book I recommend is The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning, try to read this book while you are pregnant as it will help you avoid pitfalls. Also consider a more natural parenting stlye The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby, you will be less stressed if you stop worrying about schedules and what your mother's generation did.

SLEEP

You will get more sleep if you have a family bed, read Nighttime Parenting (Revised): How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep (La Leche League International Book) and The Family Bed to find out how to do it safely. We use Arms Reach Original CoSleeper, also available at armsreach.com. It attaches to any size bed and later converts into a playpen. The truth is that 80% of the world sleeps either with the baby in the same bed or the same room.

DIET

If you are worried about losing weight because you believe that breastfeeding will keep it on, here is a very informative book Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding: The Complete Nutrition Book for Nursing Mothers, Including a Healthy Guide to the Weight Loss Your Doctor Promised. Most mothers that breastfeed lose weight faster. Breastfeeding burns about 800 calories a day, so you can quietly sit in a darknened room and burn more calories in 20 minutes than you would otherwise burn on the stairmaster for an hour!

RETURNING TO WORK

When you go back to work I recommend Medela line of pump Medela Pump In Style Advanced Slouch Bag - Black, it is by far the best out there. Sure it costs a bit of change, but it may be something you can use under your Medical Flexible Spending Account, just ask your pediatrician to write you a note that the baby needs to be fed exclusive breastmilk only. Remember that pumping is different than nursing a baby and your body knows the difference, so practice ahead of time to get used to it.

Try to get the hands free kit that attaches to your bra (can be found at breastfeeding-essentials.com and elsewhere on-line), you will need two of the Avent Breastpump Conversion Kit (each comes with 1 adaptor & 2 bottles - also found at breastfeeding-essentials.com and elsewhere online), so you can pump directly into the Avent Avent 9 oz. Bottles and Medela Medela Vehicle Lighter Adapter, if you travel for yor job. Also consider a Avent's On-the-Go Pump Set, or Avent's ISIS Breast Pump with 2 Reusable Bottles (4oz) for when you don't want to make any noise. You may also ned Avent Washable Breast Pads if you leak sometimes, these are washable.

INTRODUCING BOTTLES

Do not introduce an artificial nipple into your child's life until you absolutely have to, but no sooner that four weeks. The moment formula is introduced, your milk supply will start to go down. It is important to pump every 3 hours while away from your baby. Many states have laws protecting your right to express milk and the federal government considers pumping to be covered under the pregnancy discrimination umbrella.

Employers can be surprisingly accomodating if you know how to approach them. Read Nursing Mother, Working Mother: The Essential Guide for Breastfeeding and Staying Close to Your Baby After You Return to Work to get tips on how to do this. Also look at Your Baby and Your Work: Balancing You Life (National Childbirth Trust Guide) because you would be surprised how you and your spouse change your views about working.

BREAST TO SIPPY, SKIPPING THE BOTTLE IS POSSIBLE

The best bottles for a breastfed baby are the Avent 4 oz. Bottles, babies that are breastfed have the easiest time with these nipples because they have a lot to fit in there mouth just like nursing.

Do not go above two holes in the nipples! This can casue your baby to become frustrated at the breast. Instead, use Avent's 7 oz. Magic Cup Trainer, with these sippys you can train a baby as young as 3 months to drink from a cup. They will use a different motion than at the breast and will be less confused. The green spounts, Avent 9 oz. Magic Cup are for babies with teeth.

Make sure you sterilize all pump parts and bottles. Avent's Electric Steam Sterilizer will sterilize 6 bottles & nipples along with your pump parts in just 10 minutes, I like the electric better than the microwave version. Either way, only use distilled water so you don't get that yucky hard water staining. You can freeze expressed milk in Avent's Breast Milk Containers - Set of 4, all you have to do is pop out the disc and put in a nipple or sippy spout (the entire Avent line is interchangeable). If the bottles get too expensive for you, get Gerber's,  the best storage bags ever or try Avent Via Breast Milk Storage Kit.

AT HOME

To make holding baby while nursing much easier use Medela's Nursing Stool so your feet don't dangle. I usually nurse in the recliner and if I didn't have the stool, my feet would dangle. Rocking recliners are better than any other rocker becasue they are sturdy and you can use them later. Sometimes I recline the seat and we sleep in the chair. Other times I use a trow pillow under the baby's head and rock, but you may want to get Boppy Pillow or the EZ 2 Nurse twins pillow.

Make sure that while you are breastfeeding that you have a table near by with snacks, remote, phone with an ear piece if possible it makes life easier and don't forget the most important thing a bottle filled with water or something refreshing. Nursing is very thirsty work.

BREAST IS LIQUID GOLD HONEY

Nursing may seem like it takes more time than bottle feeding but it doesn't - most of the time you can do it in your sleep. After you add up all the time for washing, sterilizing, mixing, preparing and the cost of formula you save yourself time, energy, and money.

Going out with a breastfed child is so easy. No bottles to take, no formula to mix and not to mention where to heat up the water. Look for nursing clothes from motherwear.com, motherhoodnuring.com and onehotmama.com so you can pump and nurse in public discreetly. I recomend using nursing clothes from the beginging (pack nursing PJ's for the hospital) as you and the baby will know what to expect.

EXTRAS

You can also try looking for great Lansinoh, lansinoh.com and Medela, medela.com also can be found in Target, Wal-Mart and most drug stores. Look for the "ultrapure medical grade, USP modified lanolin" and use it to "prime" and moisturize your nipples the last month of pregnancy and to avoid cracked nipples the first few weeks.

Also look for Avent ISIS Comfort Breast Shell, or Medela's to help flat (or inverted) nipples or nipples that are cracked and sore. If your baby needs to be held constantly (and they all do), read The Fussy Baby Book : Parenting Your High-Need Child From Birth to Age Five, The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two and consider a sling like The Original NoJo Baby Sling by Dr. Sears. It allows you to walk and do one handed chores while carying the little nurseling.

NOTE

Enjoy your time with your baby and enjoy knowing that you are giving your child the best you possibly can. No matter how much time my baby spent with someone else, she laughed in anticipation when I would get home. She knew we would have special time together. I hope this information is helpful.